Breast cancer detection with transillumination and mammography

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Am. J. Roentgenol.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.142.4.841· OSTI ID:7191257

Sickles, E A

This prospective study of 1239 women compares the breast cancer detecting abilities of state-of-the-art mammography and transillumination. Mammography was found to be the superior technique, detecting 80 (96%) of the 83 pathologically proven cancers, while transillumination detected only 44 (53%). Among cancers having the best prognosis, transillumination was even less accurate relative to mammography, detecting only 43% of malignancies that had not yet spread to axillary lymph nodes and only 19% of the nonpalpable cancers and cancers smaller than 1 cm, whereas mammography detected over 90% in each of these categories. Clearly, transillumination is not an acceptable substitute for mammography in the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Therefore, the current commerical promotion of transillumination seems to be premature.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California School of Medicine, San Francisco
• OSTI ID: 7191257
• Journal Information: Am. J. Roentgenol.; (United States), Vol. 142:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BIOMEDICAL RADIOGRAPHY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ILLUMINANCE
MAMMARY GLANDS
NEOPLASMS
DIAGNOSIS
LYMPH NODES
PATIENTS
WOMEN
ANIMALS
BODY
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
FEMALES
GLANDS
LYMPHATIC SYSTEM
MAMMALS
MAN
MEDICINE
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANS
PRIMATES
RADIOLOGY
VERTEBRATES
550602* - Medicine- External Radiation in Diagnostics- (1980-)
550900 - Pathology